Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Sept. 18: During the long-life prayer (Tenshug) on Wednesday at Thekchen Choeling Tsuglakhang temple here, the revered Tibetan Buddhist leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama reminiscing on his leadership for Tibet said that he has done his best for Tibet’s religion and political affairs.
”Until now, I have done whatever possible for the cause of Tibet’s religion and politics. In this lifetime, I have certainly been able to make a beneficial contribution to Tibet’s religious and political affairs. Particularly now, as China is gradually changing and more people are showing great interest in Buddhism, it is clear that through my karma and aspirations, I have been able to benefit not only the cause of Tibet’s religion and politics but also the Chinese people,” the 89 year old said.
In his address to the devotees, the octogenarian leader reflected on his lifelong contributions to the cause of Tibet’s religion, politics, and people. “As for myself, due to the accumulation of karma over many lifetimes, I have taken birth as someone who works for the cause of Tibet’s religion and politics during these difficult times, through my past deeds and aspirations. Moreover, I have become someone who can explain Buddhism well and engage in good discussions with scientists on psychology. This is due to the karma and aspirations that have made me, Lhamo Dhondup from Amdo,” he shared.
The Dalai Lama also urged Tibetans to maintain their unwavering determination, reminding them of their resilience. “I have worked hard until now, and I will continue to work diligently in accordance with the intentions of Buddha Shakyamuni. The Tibetan people at large have maintained their determination and courage without wavering, working hard until now. I urge you to continue your efforts diligently,” he said.
The long-life prayer (Tenshug) was offered by 40 local chapters of the Tibetan Women’s Association (TWA), 500 representatives from eight districts of Lhasa (capital of Tibet), and alumni of Central School for Tibetans (CST) Dalhousie.
The prayer ceremony, symbolising a collective wish for the exiled spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s longevity, included offerings of Amitayus, the Buddha of Longevity, and a mandala led by Vajra Master Ven. Samdhong Rinpoche. Devotees offered 126 statues of Buddha Shakyamuni, 125 statues of Tara, and thangkas depicting renowned masters from India and Tibet.
One Response
There is no doubt the Dalai Lama has done a wonderful job as the political and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people since we came into exile. Without his leadership at the helm, it would have been impossible to garner support from the people and leaders of India and other western leaders and their people! His charm, charisma, serenity and sincerity have won the heart of the world! The greatest asset is his Buddhist wisdom that brought a fresh perspective on life and death to a world where materialism was seen as the ultimate goal to happiness and death was a thing that was not to be even spoken of in life. The ideas that he had acquired from his learning of Buddhist philosophy are as relevant today as it was at the time of the Buddha Shakyamuni. This brought a wave of interest in Tibetan Buddhism that the Dalai Lama taught across the globe wherever he was invited and managed to get a visa as well! His Buddhist ideals coupled with scientific thought that he had studied from various western scientists gave the Dalai Lama legitimacy not only as a spiritual leader of phenomenal divine achievements but also one grounded in modernity and realism. Many westerners believed that the Dalai Lama had healing powers which he often denied with a chuckle! Where ever he travelled, he pulled crowds in the thousands and all of them came out refreshed, relieved and comforted! That was the magic of the Dalai Lama! Even Hollywood used Dalai Lama as a peace icon in their films and reverberated his words by people like Eddy Murphy. By the mid-90s, he appeared on Time magazine’s 100 most famous personalities in the world! By now, he was an international super star and a darling of the world! He was approached not only by the rich and famous but also by the sick, the infirm, disabled and the mentally disturbed people to seek solace in his company. I have not seen any high flying spiritual Gurus who cared for the wretched as much the present Dalai Lama. Sometimes, a whole school of disabled people would be his audience and he would speak to them, hold their hands, touch their cheeks as Tibetans often do to show filial piety. He has been a human being of immense empathy towards others especially the down trodden and the outcastes of society. For his own people, he cried with them in times of distress while he also laughed with them at times of joyous celebrations! Tibetans love him with their heart and can’t get enough of him. There have been times when he frowned upon those who propitiate the spirit called Dolgyal or better known as Shugden. This alienated a section of the Tibetan diaspora. The reason for the Dalai Lama to appeal to them to stop the practise was owing to the reason that those who practised Shugden created religious disharmony. They harboured Geluk supremacist tendency that caused rift between the four tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. They peddled that if any Geluk monk or nun indulged in Nyingma school practises, the spirit will harm them! They cited numerous examples of high Tibetan Lamas being killed by Shugden for dabbling with Nyingma in a book called ཕ་རྒོདབླ་མའི་ཞལ་ལུང་ (the divine prophetic words of the wrathful Lama). They said that Reting Rinpoche practised Nyingma and that’s why Shugden came in the form of a monkey with a hat to demonstrate his displeasure and that caused Reting Rinpoche’s death in prison! There are other Lamas such as བྲག་རི་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ (previous Dagri Rinpoche) who was said to be followed by a black dog where ever he went and this they said was in fact Shugden! The followers of Shugden had particular distaste of the Nyingmapas. They would not want to recite ཨོཾ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སི་དྷི་ཧུཾ on their malas འཕྲེང་བ་ When Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche visited Hunsur Rabgyeling settlement, a Kongpo woman was not allowed to see Trijang Rinpoche! She told me personally. The only reason I can think of not allowing her to see Rinpoche must be because she is a Nyingma. Kongpo people belong to the Nyingma tradition. One monk from a Geluk monastery told me long time ago that he was meditating in Bhutan but he faced resentment. Gelukpas are not welcomed in Bhutan because they think all Gelukpas are followers of Shugden. Bhutan’s State religion is Drukpa Kagyud འབྲུག་པ་བཀའ་རྒྱུད་ which was founded by Drogon Tsangpa Gyare འགྲོ་མགོན་གཙང་པ་རྒྱ་རེ་ From the above incidents, it is clear the followers of Shugden were not building bridges but were creating fear and discord among the people. It was also creating a bad image of the Geluk School abroad such as Buddhist nation of Bhutan who held Gelukpas at arms length for a long time owing to the Shugden controversy. The Dalai Lama saw this very clearly when Tibetan Lamas started writing books to support Shugden such as ཕ་རྒོད་བླ་མའི་ཞལ་ལུང་ and on the other end, those who despised Shugden wrote books to denounce the writer of ཕ་རྒོད་བླ་མའི་ཞལ་ལུང་ and refuting the contents of book point by point! All these development convinced the Dalai Lama that unless he acts, the fissures will gradually become ruptures that would undermine the unity of the Tibetans and thus he appealed to all Tibetan to stop the proposition of Shugden and also made the monks and lay to pledge to cut ties with those who continued to worship Shugden. This caused much pain to a section of the people and the Dalai Lama did admit it during a meeting with him. He said, ཁག་མེད་ (can’t blame thrm). Despite the pain, it was necessary for a greater purpose. It is said that amputation is a terrible thing to lose your limb but in order to save oneself from death, it is the preferred option. As it were, the Dalai Lama’s action were in similar vein. Owing to the Dalai Lama’s stand on Shugden, Other schools such as Nyingma and Kagyud Lamas and monks started to attend the Dalai Lama’s annual teaching in Dharamsala in 2004. This clearly indicated that other traditions didn’t feel the kind of disdain Shugden followers showed against them and they appreciated the unity and commonality of all four Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Bhutanese diplomats living abroad started to come and see the Dalai Lama during his travels abroad. All this goes to prove that despite the pain caused to a section of the community, the Dalai Lama’s decision dispelled the distrust among the four traditions and united them and also salvaged the reputation of the Geluk tradition which had suffered as a result of rather unsavoury words and actions of those who followed Shugden. To the Tibetan people, he is the saviour and protector སྐྱབས་མགོན་ of the Tibetan people and their nation. He is the guide and he is the sovereign of the Tibetan nation. Whether it’s in occupied Tibet or outside in the diaspora, he is looked up as the beacon of hope and source of courage by the entire Tibetan people!